The Budget's Unsustainable Path

The budgetary recklessness that was a hallmark of the Bush presidency has gotten worse under President Obama. Like the previous administration, the Obama administration was fully aware when it took office that the country is facing an entitlement-driven budgetary crisis.

However, by ramming an unaffordable Medicare prescription drug program through Congress, the Bush administration chose to score short-term political points at the expense of the long-term economic health of the nation. Likewise, Obama’s health care plan increases the likelihood that future generations will be forced to confront a fiscal Armageddon.

The Congressional Budget Office’s long-term budget projections show that unless Washington changes course, the interest on the debt alone will consume 30 percent of the economy by 2080. Driving this mountainous debt will be federal health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid, which will consume almost 20 percent of the economy. And these projections were calculated prior to the passage of the president’s health care “reform.”